Day 82

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells the disciples the Father’s desire to provide us with all that is good for us. It is interesting to note that in His first example, a friend is asking for something that is for another’s good and not his own. A man seeks provisions from a friend in order to provide for another. Jesus stresses that persistence and perseverance will yield results when what is sought is for the good. He promises that prayers will be answered and goes on to remind us that the Father only gives what is for our well-being and benefit. There will be many moments in our recovery life when we are required to call on God, and we must do so with trust and perseverance.

Our daily lives present us with many situations that challenge us to be patient and trusting of God and His goodness. Very real and stressful scenarios arise in our lives and those of our loved ones, including financial, health, employment, and interpersonal troubles that need God’s intervention and grace. As recovering addicts, the burden of such troubles is compounded by our history of “medicating” ourselves to shield us from life’s common worries. Let us pray with confidence and persistence for what we can trust will be God’s blessing of grace and mercy in our lives and those of the ones we love. God did not bring us into recovery to experience a life of misery; He called us to a life of abundance.

Reflection Questions

• How has persistence and perseverance in your prayer life yielded results? Were your prayers answered in the way you expected?
• What are the similarities and differences in your petitionary prayer when you are praying for the needs of others as compared with your own requests?

Daily Mass Readings

First Reading: Galatians 3:1-5
Responsorial Psalm: Luke 1:69-70, 71-72, 73-75
Gospel: Luke 11:5-13

Reflection by Mark L.

(d.1586) — These three priests were executed in London, England. They were hanged as well as drawn and quartered for the high treason felony of being Catholic priests. John Adams and John Lowe were Protestant ministers who converted, while Robert appears to have been raised in a Catholic family.

These martyrs were all native missionaries during the confusion of the Protestant Reformation. Two of them seemed to have been targeted for their involvement in exorcisms, upsetting their persecutors both for acquiring several converts to the Catholic Church and for being considered superstitious during a time when the persecution of witchcraft was rampant. Are there times in your recovery when being “Catholic in Recovery” has brought suspicion or misunderstanding? How have you shared your experience, strength, and hope in these moments?

“Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give…I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves” (Matthew 10:8,16).

Reflection by Brad Farmer